Do You Bicycle? Dedicated to the proposition that bike riding is good for you & fun. Commentary, links, news, opinion, reviews, stories, travelogue, & occasional heads up about events. Kiril Kundurazieff spreads the word & the word is BICYCLE!

October 28, 2009

New York Times Reports on Balance Bikes 3 Yrs. After Cycling Dude's 1st Story

The Fish Wrap of Record was so embarrassed by the shame of being scooped by the likes of The Cycling Dude that it took almost 3 years for them to get over it, and do their own story...

Ok, ok, maybe not, but who can resist teasing The Gray Lady? ;-D

My friend Randy Eady, of Glider Rider, has alerted me to a story in the New York Times, by Yishane Lee, that gives very brief opinions on several bikes, including Glider Rider, providing pictures of each model, prices, and website links.

The test rider was the 2 yr. old son of a bike shop sales rep in Maryland and DC, and Dear Old Dad provided the opinions on each bike.

For instance, this was his opinion on Glider Rider, a bike that was not his 1st, or 2nd, choice of the 5 bikes discussed:

This 10-pound, steel-and-aluminum bike holds up to 90 pounds, and its lowest fully adjustable seat setting is 12.5 inches. Although Mr. Bartolome praised the footrest and kickstand, he had mixed feelings about the handle behind the seat. “I used it to steady the bike while Velo steered on his own,” he said, but holding onto Velo instead of the bike felt safer. “The hand brake was difficult even for me to pull back,” he added.

Obviously these thoughts are not a detailed review of each product, but they DO give parents some preliminary thoughts to work with, from a parent, with an age appropriate child, who happens to be an Cycling Industry person as well.

With the links provided, and a little Google Searching, any parent interested in any of these bikes can learn all they need to know to make the right decision for their child.

October 03, 2009

Is Audi Anti-Bicycle in its Latest Commercial?

Automobile Manufacturer Audi has come out with a new commercial for one of its new cars, called Audi A3 TDI - Do Your Part, and it takes a slap at Bicyclists that is far from funny, and is rather insulting, and offensive.

I have a peculiar sense of humor, and write humor, and poetry, about bicycling, and plan to include humor in my own future efforts on YouTube, but this commerical is not funny at all.

The commercial doesn't have a specific target audience, to me, anyway, unless you consider the piece to be an attempt to coax people to quit riding their bikes, and "get back in the damn car, already!".

And they are supposed to do this why? The new car is powered by Vegetable Oil!

They just insulted not just Cyclists, but Environmentalists, too.

The commercial has an anouncer condescendingly intoning that "Many people are trying to do their part. . ." as we see some unhappy Bike Commuter getting jostled by strangers on a crowded bus; a frightend cyclist in a suit trying to avoid a car as rain pours down around him; and some goofball on a Segway trying to remember the ineffective lessons he must have just been given, as he rides a sidewalk.

The Commuter is obviously an Immigrant, possibly of Middle Eastern Descent.

Talk about stereotype! Yes, minorities combine bus, and bike, to commute, but so do I, and other Middle Class people, and as well as people who make far more than we do!

And, besides riding the bus is not the horror they try to make it out to be.

As for the guy in the rain...No-one I know is that stupid, or desperate.

With all sorts of clothing to wear in the rain available, there is no excuse to do so if you simply MUST ride in the rain (Hell, even I've pedaled my bike with one hand steering, and one holding an Umbrella!).

Of course the smart thing when it rains, or snows, as everyone knows, is to leave the bike at home, and take the bus, or commuter train! ;-D

I WILL concede, though, that some Segway users are just like this one, and should be given plenty of space...hee, hee! ;-D

People like David Fiedler, of the About Bicycles site, are not amused by this commercial.

"Har har, Audi. That's rich. Guess what? You just insulted the groups of people most likely to be concerned about the environment and respond to a clean diesel ad by factoring it into their car buying decision.

I ride my bike to work daily, endorse mass transit AND have two cars that will need replacing in the next two years. Audi is not going to be a choice for either new vehicle,thanks to this terrible commercial."

I agree with him that it makes it seem like Bicycle Commuting is weird, unpleasant, dorky, and dangerous.

August 20, 2009

Bicycling Woodies

This morning I found a fascinating page, about Wooden Bicycles in East Africa, with pictures, from 2000, of very crude, but effective, hand-crafted bicycles being used by villagers in Africa.

As decribed by the person behind the page, and the collection of related links on the subject, writes..."These locally-made bikes had axles, steering columns, brakes (quite necessary for controlling descents in this mountainous region), and rubber tires."

July 27, 2009

OC Weekly Publishes Letter By Cycling Dude

I left a comment online, not knowing if it would be accepted (It was.), and certainly not knowing if it would be published in the magazine itself.

Saturday night, in Hollywood, on my way home from participating in my very 1st Open Mic petry Reading (I read two of my poems!), I picked up a copy of the latest OC Weekly, and found my comment in the Letters to the Editor Section. ;-D

I wrote:

Absolutely glorious!

As the OC's Premier BikeBlogger I commend you for printing this most excellent rant.

Many motorists consider us cyclists as not belonging on the road with them, and have little understanding of the law that says we belong, and are vehicle drivers just as they are.

They take every opportunity to try to put us down, and while mostly these efforts are verbal in nature, on occasion they can be more dangerous (I've had a car passenger lean out the window, and give me a shove that, if I'd been going faster than 5mph, would have knocked me off balance, and led to possible serious injury.

July 17, 2009

Anonymous Latina Cyclist Rips Rude Motorist a New One in Glorious Rant

I'd like to shake this womans hand.. ;-D

Among the many things about one of my favorite Leftwing Weeklies, The OC Weekly, here in Orange County, is a column called "Hey You!", where readers are encouraged to "Send anonymous thanks, confessions or accusations—changing or deleting the names of the guilty and innocent" in for publication.

This one caught my attention, and it's glorious!

You were the lovely gentleman in the silver car on Harbor Boulevard who decided to yell at me while hanging outside your passenger window that my “fat ass was going to break that bike seat” as I was minding my own business on a relaxing ride.

Harbor is a busy thoroughfare, from top to bottom, running north to south, from Brea, to the beach in Huntington Beach.

Last thing you want to do is tell a woman she has a fat ass, hee, hee! ;-D

I’m very glad that such an obviously intellectual individual felt the need to grace me with his incredibly intelligent observation. I understand that it must be terribly difficult to be hung like a Tic Tac and be utterly unable to please a man, much less a woman, with such a pathetic excuse for an instrument.

I'll see your "Fat Ass" with my "Tic Tac", and raise you with a "Pathetic Instrument", hee, hee! ;-D

However, I regret to inform you that my ass may be voluptuous, but it is in no way fat. Excuse me for being of Latin descent and thus curvy, and perhaps I’ll consider excusing you for being an ignorant swine.

Mighty nice of her, but I wouldn't be so forgiving. ;-D

Next time you contemplate putting down any individual without reason, consider looking in the mirror first at the ludicrous and despicable excuse for a human being you are and see you have no room to do so. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evenings smoking pot in your mother’s basement. I’m sure they won’t cease to be anything but eventful. And also feel free to burn in hell. Thanks again for the shout-out!

May 22, 2009

True or False: Tandem Cycling a Marriage Saver?

Being a bachelor, and never having been aboard a Tandem, I'm the last person to ask about this question. ;-D

I DID find an article by Jennifer Schwartz, of Boston.com, from last July, that addresses the question.

It seems that while taking a ride with the spouse, each of you on your own trusty steed, may be a great way to experience the outdoors, and get some exercise, it can sometimes put a crimp in the relationship.

February 12, 2009

Women have been Racing Bikes Since the Late 1800's?

I don't cover Professional Bicycle Racing, around here, but I love history, and I found the first paragraph and a half of the Introduction to Women's Cycling page of the Top Pro Cycling Women Website, to be a fascinating bit of reading:

As far back as the late 1800's, women were racing high wheeled bikes both for fun, and as a way to generate some income.

Ernestine Bernard of Paris put on a spectacle with a three mile race with a horse on her high wheeled bike at Toronto...

One women was noted to have not only raced and won repeatedly for years making a decent income, but she indulged in some elaborate antics, and handicapped herself on occasions to give the opponents a better shot at winning. However she was very good, and rarely lost these races...

In the early 1900's women were competing in 6 day events with evening competitions...

On June 25, 1894, Annie Londonderry became the first woman to cycle around the world.

Evelyn Hamilton rode 700 miles in September 1935 covering the distance in 4 days in beautiful Northern Scotland.

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Do You Bicycle? Dedicated to the proposition that bike riding is good for you and fun. Commentary, links, news, opinion, reviews, stories, travelogue, and occasional heads up about events. An ordinary road cyclist spreads the word and the word is BICYCLE!

Dear Visitor: Most of the Cycling Resource Links that used to be in this sidebar are now on my other Blog, where I will continue writing about my adventures as a Bicyclist:Musings of a Mad Macedonian

AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST...THE GREATEST HONOR THIS BLOG HAS EVER RECEIVED IN ITS HISTORY:

Nov. 12, 2010:

Thank you for honoring the shop I have grown up in and love. We are still an old time shop but are trying to keep up with the times with the Kopp's Cycle Website -- Charles Kuhn - Owner (Comment left here: Kopp's Selling Bikes since 1891 - A story I posted in March 2005, and he also replied to my Thanks with this: "You seem to be someone who experiences life while the rest of us just live."

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